Talk:Kagami Sumika/@comment-173.63.27.41-20130820030444/@comment-115.75.215.103-20191006135048
Meiya is almost Mary-Sue tier? Overrated as fuck? Damn, the salt is strong in this one. I can understand if you claim her to be boring, it's subjective and I respect that, but what you stated before that is simply fiction within fiction. Allow me to correct what you said above, Meiya is objectively the best girl, like it or not, it's a fact. First, let's get on with this MaRy-SuE argument. A Mary Sue character is one that is perfect and without flaws, which is completely against how Meiya has been portrayed ever since Extra. Sure she is smart, strong, and quick to adapt, but she is definitely not a perfect human being. If anything, she has a rather naive view to the world around her, or to be more precise, too innocent to a fault. Why is that? It's because of her being noble, and how she had a rather strict upbringing from a family that follows tradition shit and the likes. She also had a hard time finding her purpose in life, which created lots of internal conflicts with what she said and what she did etc. Because remember, Meiya was born to be a FODDER to the royal family, she had no right to live as a normal human being, so that alone is a big slap in the face of a MaRy-SuE character. Oh and have I mentioned that Takeru basically outdid everything Meiya could ever achieve as a TSF pilot? Sure the time-travel helped him but even in the first iterate (Unlimited), he was shown to be a top player. Though it's due to being a gamer in Extra, point is, plot still dictated the fact that Takeru is a better TSF pilot than Meiya. Moreover, way earlier in the story she had been portrayed to be a leader-type character, always remained calm and looked at things from an objective view, but in the end, that could not help her bring the squad together to unity, till Takeru came. And lastly, as powerful and strong-minded as Meiya was, she could not find a perfect solution to save everyone in the final battle at the Original Hive (I smell Starcraft). She had to sacrifice her squadmate, one by one, to get to the endgame, only to what? Yeah, you all know the answer, that moment alone trumps everything Sumika could ever achieve from every single instance of Muv Luv. So sure, salt all you want, Meiya had it tough from the beginning till her final moment, it's just a matter of perspective and if you claim Meiya is a MaRy-SuE type, it would be the dumbest thing to say about this franchise. Regarding Meiya being overrated, I failed to see why is this even a thing, I've never seen a proper argument from team Sumika to justify why she should be the best girl, apart from, eh, "she suffered A LOT"? Sure if that's how you feel it makes her the best then glad for you, but don't talk down to Meiya just because she happens to have a slightly bigger fanbase, come up with some constructive criticism instead of baseless claim filled with salt. On that note, I'll also get on to the offensive against Sumika fans, so if you can't stand the flame, I suggest stop reading now. I have no qualm with how Sumika ended up as the true end heroine, at any case it'd been pretty much decided before the author ended the trilogy anyway, and on my re-read I've realized that Takeru only has Sumika on his god damn mind all the time so it's also fair things ended up that way. However, personality-wise, she's the worst of all the heroines. I could barely survive Extra all thanks to her tendency of blowing things out of proportion and resorting to pointless, annoying violence whenever she was with Takeru. Moreover, she always pushed things to the way she wanted, a rather selfish person to be more frank, acting like she actually OWNS Takeru, which is really hard to bear within the span of like more than 10 hours reading (Extra only). Of course, you can find enjoyment in that, but to me, it's just absurd, and compare that to what Meiya is made of (being badass, fair, dutiful and noble), boi, it feels like throwing a baby bird against a fully grown eagle. "Okay, Extra-Sumika might have been kinda awkward, but Alternative really did her justice didn't it? Like, c'mon, you know what I'm talking about don't ya?" :TOPKEK:, to be even more frank, the whole fucked-up mess BETA did to Sumika actually felt pretty weak to me, or should I say, it's just forced drama. Just because Sumika suffered physically and mentally doesn't mean that'd make amend to her horrible portrayal in Extra, and even if I disregard Extra, it didn't even add anything to her character all. If anything it's just stupid, she got messed up, and conveniently someone threw a nuke in and taddaaaa, we got a "love that broke through all fucking barriers". Pssst, give me a break man, sure, it was heart-wrenching, I did genuinely feel bad for her, but that's all. Sumika's role in Alternative is nothing more than being a plot device and the definition of the main theme of Muv Luv (True Love they said). It is nice, but seriously, I expected more from that, she is the main heroine, so she should have shone more than other female characters, not just being passive for like 90% of the plot. The sacrifice in the end was nice but not as dramatic and powerful as other heroines offered (did they really have to make it happen off-screen, lol). Duh, and people simply say "Sumika da bezt girl" just because of the suffering, which IMO, is just a shallow reason to make such claim. And to add more onto that, "true love" that came from suffering is also a rather meh concept, though it was nicely presented via all this Quantum Causality shit. Now to the defensive position, Sumika sure suffered a lot, but looking back to Meiya's whole life in the Alternative world-line as a whole, it's not that much more comfortable than that of Sumika, arguably, I'd dare say, on a mental level, Meiya had it worse. Hmm, where should I start, how about ever since her birth? 1. "Man, ever heard of the royal family thingy in Japan? These guys basically own the Jap, and guess what, Meiya was born a daughter to such, cool isn't it?" NAHHHHH, you wish, got tossed away like TRASH from her family (sister - Yuuhi da gawd - to be more precise since her parents are garbage), all thanks to a stupid superstition. 2. "But hey, be positive will ya, she can still grow up with a decent teenage life, making friends etc don't you think?" Nice try, but NOPPPPPEEEEE, let's just send her to the frontline of BETA defensive line as a political hostage instead, also if shit goes down we'll just dump it all on her, AGAIN, got tossed away like TRASH. 3. "Okay..at least she could still find some memorable moments within the military life couldn't she?" HAHAHAHA, that's cute, boi, but FUCK THAT, from the sky came this nigga Takeru who's a chick magnet that stole Meiya's heart away, and guess what? He dumped her to a sideway while being fixated on Sumika, ignoring everything Meiya'd ever done to him, how she had always been by his side, cheered him up, lifted him up, supporting him and even was willing to LET HIM FUCK HER during his crisis just so he could get back on track, and AGAIN, for the 3rd fucking time, got tossed away like TRASH. And what did Takeru said again hmmm, ahh yes, "She's not interested in me in this timeline", hand out the most :facepalm: moment to me in this Visual Novel. 4. Lastly though, when Sumika and Takeru had a quarrel under a tree on a night, it was thanks to Meiya that the 2 got to reconcile and effectively sealed off the gate to any other choices possible, Meiya definitely was aware of that, but instead of taking advantage of the situation, she showed him the path to get back on track (for the 2nd time) and thus losing the most perfect chance to get to be with him. At the concluding arc, Meiya had to take another major blow to her heart while Takeru was flirting with Sumika without turning off the transmitter, that was when I knew she had been destroyed mentally... and yet still delivered one hell of a performance at the endgame. I guess that just fits Meiya's character given her Extra's counterpart build-up since she's straight as an arrow and never resorts to underhanded methods, her picking a fair fight with Sumika was definitely an admirable yet tragic move at the same time. If anything, it only makes Meiya more polished and awesome as a tragic figure, unlike most cases for similar female archetypes. Meiya's whole life, looking from an objective viewpoint, had always been trash, YET, she never complained, and always fulfilled her DUTY (Stannis approves) as her given role in the royal family. And well, her final moment was probably the most epic scene in the story, kinda reminds me TTGL (row row, fight the power). At least things went by her own WILL, to die in a battle of her own, not as a political chess piece like her life had always been dictated earlier on. And also that invisible sister bond between her and Yuuhi. *Salute* In the end, while I sure trash-talked Sumika a lot (mostly from Extra anyway), her portrayal in Alternative sure got better, but it's just not enough, that's all. Even if I only take MLA into account, her moments still feel pale compared to the girls in squad 207, hell, I even enjoyed side characters like Tsukuyomi Mana THE G.O.A.T and Isumi Michiru THE #2 G.O.A.T despite their short screentime, more so than whatever MLA had to offer about Sumika. Peace out.